Biz & IT —

Linux Foundation to host legal summits

The Linux Foundation plans to host legal summits where representatives of …

The open source software licensing model defies much of the conventional wisdom regarding intellectual property and software distribution. There are many contexts in which new approaches to resolving common legal issues are needed because the open source philosophy is so fundamentally different from proprietary distribution. The Linux Foundation aims to answer some of the unanswered questions with two upcoming invitation-only legal summits that will include participants from the open source software community as well as major companies like HP, IBM, Intel, and Novell. The summit will be hosted by the Linux Foundation's new legal team, which consists of Karen Copenhaver of Black Duck software, and standards expert Andy Updegrove.

At the first summit, which will be in Boston late next month, "members will focus on the issues of greatest common interest with regards to open standards and licensing," the Linux Foundation said in a statement. "Presentations and working sessions will focus on building a legal defense infrastructure for Linux and evolving intellectual property rights policies optimized to support open development models."

A second summit scheduled for Spring 2008 will be open to all legal experts. The Spring 2008 summit "will fill a glaring need for many attorneys who are looking for practical legal guidance on the development and distribution of open source software and the legal framework within which standards can be created to serve both proprietary and open source software models," the Linux Foundation said in a statement.

The Linux Foundation was formed earlier this year when the Open Source Development Labs merged with the Free Standards Group. The organization has been looking for ways to use its resources and expertise to provide useful and relevant information to enterprise Linux users and potential adopters.

There is a very clear need for the kind of collaborative legal discussions that the Linux Foundation is hoping to facilitate with the upcoming legal summits. It seems like the organization is finding practical ways to serve its intended function.